LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.11.02 (08) [E/S/Gaelic]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 02.NOV.2002 (08) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: ntl <shoogly at ntlworld.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2002.11.02 (07) [E]

Hoo's it gaen / De tha dol Rheinhard / Ron???

I'm glad you mentioned other areas apart from the states and Canada.  I was
very aware when I wrote my message of Australia and New Zealand ( amongst
others ) as countries that Scots had emigrated to in significant numbers -
but as it was my first message  - I was trying to gauge response. I am aware
that as late as the end of the 19th Centaury there was a news paper
published in Australia in Gaelic - but when speaking Scots ( being so
closely related to English and so easily interchanged with it - whereas
Gaelic is so fundamentally different - that this has worked to Gaelic's
advantage -you were either speaking Gaelic or English - whereas with Scots -
because of it's close similarity to English - when you spoke Scots ( and
still to a large extent in Scotland today ) ) you were often told you were
just speaking "bad English". This situation would not lead to an obvious
survival in Scots in material terms ( i.e News papers, documents ) - whereas
it may well have survived in everyday speech.  It is an irony that the
"written" official form of languages is often not reflective of the everyday
spoken language, this is the case of Scots - which has NO official status or
support but is quite easily heard throughout the Lowlands of
Scotland -whereas everything official has to be done through English (
except in a few exceptions in the Highlands & Islands - where Gaelic MAY be
accepted ) ~ otherwise you are looked down on as being un-educated and
ignorant. I'd also be interested in the experiences of other people from
Linguistic minorities in a similar situation - i.e  are Linguistically
similar to a major language and are seemed to be a degenerate, corrupt form
of it???

Chris Ferguson

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language varieties

Chris:

> Hoo's it gaen / De tha dol Rheinhard / Ron???

Thenk ye, gey braw. | Tha mi gu math. Tapadh leibh.
(Ma "German" name disna hae an "h", tho.)

I didn't mean to say that I actually *believe* there are surviving
Scots-speaking enclaves in the countries I mentioned.  I just think the
possibility should not be discounted, especially in Australia, which not
only has strong Scottish heritage but also has less of a tradition of
snobbery, social, linguistic and otherwise, besides the fact that national
importance placed in personal freedom and privacy is not a matter of mere
words and lip service.

But you are probably right in saying that Scots has a harder time surviving
in English-dominated environments for the very reasons you gave.  So it
would be interesting to find out how Scots has been faring in Scottish
communities elsewhere, such as Argentina and a few other Latin American
countries.  Also, I wonder if anything is known about linguistic matters
regarding Scottisch immigration to Prussia (in places that now belong to
Germany and Poland) a long time ago.

Mar sin leibh an drà sda!
Reinhard/Ron

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